Ryan Sullivan Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
My practice departs from the observation of everyday abstraction, unintentional but not arbitrary instances—the traces of rain on a car window, the network of veins in a slab of marble, the pillow marks on a bedfellow’s face.
The studio acts as a stage for employing process and representing the visual idiom of environments, translating paint into ghosts of the accidental. The technical processes allow paint to fluctuate and act on it’s own. Using enamels, spray-paint and other industrial products, the resulting topographies that emerge from these experimental studio actions are caught in a state of suspense. Cracking, dripping, drooping, pressing, separating – all activate the properties inherent in the material itself. The act of painting, reduced, makes the temporary instant both visible and permanent.
The conscious decision to work serially, and often in the same scale, correlates to the body, presenting a constant platform to view solitary events. Time is implied in the work’s title, given as the start and end date of the work, demarcating the materials’ performative life. The results are not pure abstraction, but evidence of the realism found in the processes they have undergone.
My practice departs from the observation of everyday abstraction, unintentional but not arbitrary instances—the traces of rain on a car window, the network of veins in a slab of marble, the pillow marks on a bedfellow’s face.
The studio acts as a stage for employing process and representing the visual idiom of environments, translating paint into ghosts of the accidental. The technical processes allow paint to fluctuate and act on it’s own. Using enamels, spray-paint and other industrial products, the resulting topographies that emerge from these experimental studio actions are caught in a state of suspense. Cracking, dripping, drooping, pressing, separating – all activate the properties inherent in the material itself. The act of painting, reduced, makes the temporary instant both visible and permanent.
The conscious decision to work serially, and often in the same scale, correlates to the body, presenting a constant platform to view solitary events. Time is implied in the work’s title, given as the start and end date of the work, demarcating the materials’ performative life. The results are not pure abstraction, but evidence of the realism found in the processes they have undergone.
CV
Ryan Sullivan
Born in 1983. Live and work in New York.
EDUCATION
2005 BFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011
Griselle, curated by Alison Gingeras, Luxembourg & Dayan, New York, NY
Everything You Can Imagine is Real…, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium
Secondary Evidence of Things Unseen, curated by Clarissa Dalrymple, VeneKlasen/Werner, Berlin, Germany
Robert Barry, Peer Bode, Raymond Hains, Nikolas Gambaroff, Ryan Sullivan, Nicole Klagsbrun, New York, NY
2010
Skins, curated by Alex Gartenfeld, OHWOW, Miami, FL
Group Show, curated by Clarissa Dalrymple, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
Neo-Vitruvian: the Body Now, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
Greater New York 2010: Rotation 4, curated by Clarissa Dalrymple, MoMA P.S.1, Queens, NY
Twenty-six Dinner Parties: 1, curated by Haley Mellin, Amagansett, NY
Spare Room, West Street Gallery, New York, NY
Substance Abuse, curated by Colin Huerter, Leo Koenig Projekte, New York, NY
Volume, AT1 Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Selections, curated by Ross Bleckner, LA Art House, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Kings County Biennial, curated by James Fuentes, Kidd Yellin, Brooklyn, NY
Room Tones, St. Cecila Convent, Brooklyn, NY
Everybody, Envoy Gallery, New York, NY
2008
What the Midnight Can Show Us, MUSEUM 52, New York, NY
2007
Neointegrity, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
PUBLICATIONS
2011 Modern Painters (Scott Indrisek), “Art as Appetizer Plate”
2011 Pulp Gazette, Art Labratory and Journal, “Xavier Hufkens”
2011 Dossier Journal (C. Messineo), May 2011
2010 ArtInfo, (Staff), “The Weekly Ten”, October 2010
2010 Art in America, (Brienne Walsh), “Clarissa Dalrymple on her Greater New Yorkers”, September 2010
2010 Exhibition Catalog, (Klaus Biesenbach, Connie Butler, and Neville Wakefield), “Greater New York 2010” September 2010
2010 Dossier Journal, (J. Misheff), “West Street Gallery”, July 2010
2010 ArtInfo, (Staff), “The Weekly Ten”, June 2010
2010 Exhibition Catalog, (Christopher K. Ho, Kevin Zucker), “The Late Work”, Fisher Press, 2010
2010 ARTnews, (M. Doktorczyk), “Ross Bleckner”, Summer 2010
2007 New Yorker, (Staff), “Neo-Integrity”, August 2007
2007 New York Times (H. Cotter), “When the Curator is Also an Artist, Go Ahead, Expect Surprises”, August 2007
2007 New York Sun (D. Cohen), “Art Around Town”, July 2007
Ryan Sullivan
Born in 1983. Live and work in New York.
EDUCATION
2005 BFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011
Griselle, curated by Alison Gingeras, Luxembourg & Dayan, New York, NY
Everything You Can Imagine is Real…, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium
Secondary Evidence of Things Unseen, curated by Clarissa Dalrymple, VeneKlasen/Werner, Berlin, Germany
Robert Barry, Peer Bode, Raymond Hains, Nikolas Gambaroff, Ryan Sullivan, Nicole Klagsbrun, New York, NY
2010
Skins, curated by Alex Gartenfeld, OHWOW, Miami, FL
Group Show, curated by Clarissa Dalrymple, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
Neo-Vitruvian: the Body Now, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
Greater New York 2010: Rotation 4, curated by Clarissa Dalrymple, MoMA P.S.1, Queens, NY
Twenty-six Dinner Parties: 1, curated by Haley Mellin, Amagansett, NY
Spare Room, West Street Gallery, New York, NY
Substance Abuse, curated by Colin Huerter, Leo Koenig Projekte, New York, NY
Volume, AT1 Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Selections, curated by Ross Bleckner, LA Art House, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Kings County Biennial, curated by James Fuentes, Kidd Yellin, Brooklyn, NY
Room Tones, St. Cecila Convent, Brooklyn, NY
Everybody, Envoy Gallery, New York, NY
2008
What the Midnight Can Show Us, MUSEUM 52, New York, NY
2007
Neointegrity, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
PUBLICATIONS
2011 Modern Painters (Scott Indrisek), “Art as Appetizer Plate”
2011 Pulp Gazette, Art Labratory and Journal, “Xavier Hufkens”
2011 Dossier Journal (C. Messineo), May 2011
2010 ArtInfo, (Staff), “The Weekly Ten”, October 2010
2010 Art in America, (Brienne Walsh), “Clarissa Dalrymple on her Greater New Yorkers”, September 2010
2010 Exhibition Catalog, (Klaus Biesenbach, Connie Butler, and Neville Wakefield), “Greater New York 2010” September 2010
2010 Dossier Journal, (J. Misheff), “West Street Gallery”, July 2010
2010 ArtInfo, (Staff), “The Weekly Ten”, June 2010
2010 Exhibition Catalog, (Christopher K. Ho, Kevin Zucker), “The Late Work”, Fisher Press, 2010
2010 ARTnews, (M. Doktorczyk), “Ross Bleckner”, Summer 2010
2007 New Yorker, (Staff), “Neo-Integrity”, August 2007
2007 New York Times (H. Cotter), “When the Curator is Also an Artist, Go Ahead, Expect Surprises”, August 2007
2007 New York Sun (D. Cohen), “Art Around Town”, July 2007
December 30, 2010 - January 13, 2011Oil, enamel and latex on canvas
59” by 45”
2011
January 5, 2011 - January 14, 2011Oil, enamel and latex on canvas
59” by 45”
2011
November 11, 2011 - January 10, 2011Enamel and latex on canvas
59” by 45”
2011
[Source Image, 2011]
August 26, 2011 - January 10, 2011Oil, enamel and latex on canvas
59” by 45”
2011
January 6, 2011 - January 20, 2011Oil, enamel and latex on canvas
59” by 45”
2011
Installation,VeneKlasen/Werner, Berlin, Germany, March 2011
January 16, 2011 - January 21, 2011Oil, enamel and latex on canvas
59” by 45”
2011
January 10, 2011 - March 21, 2011Oil, enamel and latex on canvas
59” by 45”
2011
[Source Image, 2010]
March 5, 2011 - April 21, 2011Oil, enamel and latex on canvas
59” by 45”
2011
[Source Image, 2011]
Installation,Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY, February 2011
Installation,MoMA/PS1, Queens, NY, February 2011
[Source Image, 2011]
February 13, 2010 - April 1, 2010Oil, latex and enamel on canvas
59” by 45”
2010
July 6, 2010 - September 3, 2010Oil and latex on canvas
59” x 45”
2010
September 4, 2010 - October 1, 2010Oil and latex on canvas
59” x 45”
2010
May 17, 2010 - May 18, 2010Oil on canvas
59” by 45”
2010
October 20, 2009 - May 1, 2010Oil and enamel on canvas
59” by 45”
2010